


Blank Slate

by sariane



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Eventual Happy Ending, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M, Pining, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Temporary Amnesia, amnesiac!Steve, loki's magic as plot device: the ever convenient trope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 20:26:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3704067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sariane/pseuds/sariane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Steve looks up at him, his eyes are slow to focus on Bucky. Steve sends him a blank look.  </p>
<p>“Who’s Steve?” he asks.</p>
<p>Bucky’s heart sinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blank Slate

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [Blank Slate：空白的记忆](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6072436) by [Juliana24](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Juliana24/pseuds/Juliana24)



> Written as a prompt meme fill for izzyv1o [on tumblr](http://sarriane.tumblr.com/post/94003110665). Edited for AO3. :) Enjoy!
> 
> Warnings:  
> -Amnesia stuff: Loki casts a spell, Steve loses his memories.  
> -Minor limited fight scene

Bucky is fighting tooth and nail against an angry frost giant when he glances down the street, just in time to see Steve get hit.

It's almost in slow motion: Loki dodges Cap's shield, throws his hands into the air, and yells an incantation. Bucky can't seem to hear his words over the roaring in his ears.

He yells out a warning. It's too late, and Loki's magic is quick. Bucky watches helplessly as Steve is thrown to the hard cement by the emerald green power of Loki's spell.

“Steve!” he screams. Bucky ducks between the legs of the frost giant. He sprints down the block towards Steve. Bucky faintly registers the other Avengers – Black Widow and Iron Man – taking on Loki in Cap’s absence while he runs to Steve's side.

“Back to your position, Barnes,” Tony barks into the comms. Bucky runs right past him instead, and runs right to Steve.

He kneels beside Steve’s body. At first, Bucky is hesitant to touch him, but he steels himself and rolls Steve over onto his side.

“Steve,” he says desperately. “Come on, Steve, wake up. Come on.”

Bucky watches with bated breath as Steve’s eyes slowly blink open. Bucky wants to pull Steve to his chest, to hold him and tell him he’ll kick his sorry ass if he ever tries something like that again. He resists.

Steve groans and carefully pushes himself up. Bucky steadies Steve as he raises a hand to his head in pain.

“Ow,” Steve moans. “What–what–?”

“Jesus, Steve, what the hell was that?” Bucky says, sighing in relief. “It’s no time to be laying around.”

When Steve looks up at him, his eyes are slow to focus on Bucky. Steve sends him a blank look.  

“Who’s Steve?” he asks.

Bucky’s heart sinks.

*

“There has _got_ to be a limit on how many people on _one team_ are allowed to get amnesia,” Bucky spits as he paces across the lab.

Stark has Steve hooked up to who knows _how_ many machines, and Bruce is doing some kind of a physical exam, checking the dilation of Steve’s eyes and his heart rate and a bunch of other things Bucky doesn’t understand.

“Seriously,” Bucky says, because everyone is trying their best to ignore him. “This is _bullshit._ ”

“At least he wasn’t brainwashed,” Clint shrugs. “Loki’s good at that.”

Unsurprisingly, that doesn’t stop Bucky from wanting (and almost _deciding_ ) to punch the wall. Natasha must realize, because she walks over to Bucky and stands at his side. She shifts her weight onto one foot and crosses her arms, giving Bucky a knowing look.

“Steve’s going to be okay,” Natasha says in an undertone, sending Clint a glare until he looks away awkwardly. “We’ll get him sorted out. It’s just a spell." She rests a hand on Bucky's shoulder. "The question is," she asks, "will _you_ be okay?”

“I’m fine,” Bucky snaps. Natasha raises an eyebrow at him.

“Are you really?” she asks.

Bucky sighs. “I’ll be fine,” he says. “I’m just…worried about him. I haven’t had to worry about him in awhile, y’know? Lately, it’s been the other way around.”

“Except when he jumps out of twenty story windows,” Natasha mutters. Bucky manages a laugh.

“Yeah,” Bucky says, trying and failing at sounding wry. “I still worry when he does that.”

*

“Loki has finally admitted to Sif and the Warriors Three that he has cast an amnesia spell upon the Captain," Thor says from the end of the briefing table. He frowns sadly.

“None of that means anything to me,” Steve says honestly, a little humor in his voice. Beside him, Bucky stiffens. Steve must sense the motion, because he turns to look at Bucky with a curious expression.

“It means you got zapped by an alien god from outer space and forgot everything about your life,” Tony says, all too cheerfully. When Bucky glares at him, Tony just grins back.

“And, more importantly,” Bruce says, casting a sideways glance at Tony, “it means that we’ll be able to undo the spell once we figure out the counter-curse.”

“Alright, when can we do that?” Bucky says, leaning in over the table. He feels Steve's eyes onto him and shifts back in his chair.

“It’s not that easy, James,” Natasha frowns.

"Loki will barely talk, and even then, only to gloat," Thor says. "I do not know how long we will be able to hold him this time, but while we do, Loki will never release you from the spell."

Steve looks either highly confused or _extremely_ amused, as far as Bucky can tell. He's been watching the proceedings with a fascinated look on his face. Bucky knows how he feels – the Avengers are hard to get used to until you know them.

"Thor has Loki under lock and key in Asgard, or else I'd squeeze it out of him myself," Natasha explains. She smiles slightly, for Bucky's benefit. "What we need is someone here on Earth who can perform magic."

 “Easy. What’s Wanda up to these days?” Clint asks, tipping his chair back onto its back legs.

“No one’s seen her or Pietro for months,” Natasha says. “And good luck contacting Clea or Stephen Strange – they’re rarely on this plane of existence, these days.”

“Can we try cognitive recalibration?” Clint suggests with a wicked look.

“No,” Bucky and Natasha answer at once, glaring at Clint. Steve raises his eyebrows at the three of them.

“We can send out some messages for the magic users, but that’s about all we can do,” Bruce sighs. “Sorry,” he says to Steve, “I know you don’t know any of us, and you have no reason to trust us, but you’re going to have to stay put in Avengers Tower for a while. It’s dangerous for you to be out there without your memories. We’ll keep you safe.”

Steve considers this for a long moment, as though he hasn’t heard Bruce say that he doesn’t have a choice in the matter. If Bucky knows anything about Steve, he’s taking Bruce’s warning with a grain of salt – whether or not he remembers why.

With a jolt, Bucky realizes that _he’d_ never taken Steve’s warnings seriously, either, back before his memories returned.

“I think I’ll stay,” Steve decides, eyes drifting over Bucky at his side. “It’s a nice place you got here. I’m assuming one of you can cook? I can’t remember how.” Steve smiles, but Bucky can tell it’s forced.

Tony laughs, coming over to clap Steve on the shoulder.

“Don’t count on it, buddy,” he chuckles.

*

“Phew,” Steve says when all of the Avengers leave the two of them alone on their floor of the Tower. “I thought they’d never leave.”

“I thought you wanted us to show you around a little?” Bucky asks curiously, although he empathizes. Steve’s friends can be a little much.

“I’d rather _you_ show me around, honestly,” Steve shrugs. “They…hover. Guess I’m someone important, huh? That’s exciting.”

“Yeah,” Bucky says hollowly. _More important than you realize,_ he thinks.

“So,” Steve starts as he looks around their shared apartment. “What are the chances that two guys from the 1940’s end up in the 2010’s together, huh?”

They’d briefed Steve on the basics of his past, of course, Bucky promising to fill him in on anything he wanted to know. Bucky’s own memory was still spotty at best, but he knew more about Steve than he knew about _himself_. He only hoped Steve asked the right questions.

At the briefing, they hadn’t told Steve much – if anything – about the Winter Soldier.

“Wish it had been that easy,” Bucky says, trying for humor. “You just slept for 70 years. I spent all that time as a brainwashed assassin.” It’s easier, to let it slip like this, but Bucky hates to see the open pity on Steve’s face. He turns away. “Anyways,” Bucky says with forced flippancy, “I’ll show you where you sleep.”

Their floor isn't that big. Steve follows Bucky from the main room into his bedroom.

“Tah-dah,” Bucky says dryly. It’s a pretty plain room, but for a few picture frames and a nice king sized bed. “Your bedroom. You sleep here – except when you fall asleep on the couch watching terrible science fiction movies.”

“Is this your bedroom, too?” Steve asks curiously. Bucky stares at him, but Steve is full of wide-eyed innocence.

“Uh, no,” Bucky splutters. “I sleep across the hall.”

“Right,” Steve nods. “Sorry. I thought I picked up – sorry.”

Bucky stares at him for a long moment before continuing on autopilot. “You have your own bathroom, and my room’s across the hall, like I said," he mutters, motioning in all the proper directions. "I’m, um, going to go wash up. I’m still in my battle armor. Let me know if you need anything.”

Bucky rushes out of Steve’s bedroom before he can say anything, hating himself for running like this when Steve needs him. Bucky closes his own bedroom door behind him and leans up against it, trying to breathe.

After a moment, he breaks out into laughter. He keeps it quiet, as not to scare Steve, but it shakes him until he feels his ribs aching.

_What are the chances?_ he thinks.

But, God, Steve thought they shareda _bedroom_. The thought sobers Bucky immediately, especially as he thinks of the strange look on Steve’s face when he’d asked. Bucky takes a deep breath.

He was going to hell for it, sure, but when Steve asked him if they were sleeping together, Bucky had wanted nothing more than to lie and say, _Yes._

*

Bucky wakes with a start. He feels a silent scream dying in his throat and reaches for a knife that he no longer keeps underneath his pillow.

Bucky sits up and turns on his lamp so he can case the room. There’s no sign of an intruder, just the shadows that the furniture throw against the wall. Bucky runs a hand through his hair and tries to calm his breathing. He counts in his head until he feels his heart rate slow, and keeps counting his breaths until he feels in control.

He peels off his sweat-soaked shirt and finds a new one to wear over a pair of sweat pants. There’s no way he’s getting back to sleep tonight, so he heads down the hallway to make his way to the kitchen. A glass of ice water and late night car shows sound good right about now.

Except -- there's Steve, sitting on the couch, flipping through the pages of a thick, black bound sketchbook. With a start, Steve looks over it at Bucky.

“Can’t sleep, either?” Steve asks. He sounds so much like his normal self that Bucky feels like he’s going to sink right into the carpet.

“Nope,” Bucky shrugs. He forces himself to walk past Steve and to the kitchen, where he pours himself a glass of water and forces himself to take another few deep breaths. It’s not until now that he realizes how much he misses Steve’s comfort – he always knows what to say, what to do to keep Bucky grounded.

_Suck it up, Barnes_ , he tells himself before he heads back to the living room.

Bucky takes a seat in a chair near the couch. Steve hasn’t turned the television on, just a lamp so he can see his sketchbook.

“Well,” Steve starts with a vaguely amused expression, “looks like I can draw pretty well. Found this on my bedside table.”

“Yeah, you’re a regular Da Vinci,” Bucky snorts.

“Give yourself some credit,” Steve says, holding out the sketchbook to show a sketch – a sketch of _Bucky_. “You seem like a pretty good model.”

Bucky’s heart jumps into his throat.

“I’ve…never modeled for you before,” Bucky says.

“Oh,” Steve says in surprise. He looks back at the sketch. It’s Bucky, obviously, his long hair falling into his eyes as he tilts his head to the side. He’s stretched out over the couch, leaning on the elbow of his metal arm, his jeans low on his hips, shirt rucked up enough to make out a sliver of skin.

Steve keeps staring at the sketch.

“Well then,” Steve says suddenly, flipping the sketchbook open to a fresh page. “Let’s change that. We can see if I remember how to draw, how about that?”

“Alright,” Bucky says, because he doesn’t know what else to say. He folds himself into a sitting position as Steve directs, then freezes in place as Steve begins to draw.

*

As the days pass, Bucky finds more and more excuses to avoid their apartment – and Steve. It’s not that he doesn’t _want_ to help him, but it’s hard, looking at a walking reminder of the blank slate he once was. Bucky never was good at dealing with his emotions. It doesn’t help that they’re no closer to contacting Strange or the Scarlet Witch than before.

He tries to distract himself the best he can, but it seems like he runs into Steve wherever he goes.

Wednesday morning, Bucky walks into the Tower’s gym just in time to see Steve catch Clint mid-kick and send him flying to the mat.

“Ow,” Clint groans, holding up his hands in surrender. “Uncle, uncle!” Steve glances over at Bucky with a somewhat triumphant look on his face.

“I shouldn’t remember how to do that, should I?” Steve asks him. Bucky gives in and joins him at the mat.

“Not necessarily,” Bucky shrugs. “It’s common, with amnesia, to still have muscle memory. You remember how to do it because you’ve done it before.”

“Right,” Steve says, eyeing Bucky carefully. “So, you fight with the Avengers, don’t you? Wanna spar?” he asks. Bucky bites his lip.

“We don’t fight each other,” he says. When Clint huffs loudly, the two of them shoot him a look.

“Seriously? Has no one told him?” Clint asks with a frown. “ _Jesus,_ Barnes.”

“Told me what?” Steve asks, his gaze shifting between the two of them. Bucky's chest tightens. This is it.

“I won’t spar you,” Bucky swallows, “because I tried to kill you before. A couple times, actually. Back when I was brainwashed. Nearly succeeded, too.”

Steve stares at Bucky for a moment longer, as though he’s considering him in a new light. Bucky steels himself. It’s one thing for it to remain unspoken all these months, and another to say aloud what they’ve been dancing around.

“Is that all?” Steve blinks, looking surprised. “I don’t think you’d hurt me – not even by accident. But, it’s your decision. Let me know if you change your mind.” With that, Steve leaves the gym to head off towards the showers.

As soon as he’s gone, Clint leans back on his hands on the mat and looks up at Bucky. His mouth twists downwards.

“When he gets his memories back, you’ve _got_ to talk to him, Barnes,” Clint sighs.

“About what?” Bucky asks, feigning innocence. Clint snorts humorlessly.

“You know damn well what,” he replies.

*

“Anybody home? It’s Sam Wilson, to the rescue!”

Bucky and Steve look up from the television to see Sam standing in the doorway.

“Sam Wilson?” Steve whispers, looking to Bucky for confirmation.

“You’ll like him,” Bucky murmurs back before he stands up to pat Sam’s back in a half-hug.

“Who are you rescuing?” Steve asks Sam curiously.

“You, of course,” Sam snorts. “Barnes, tell me, what is the best thing about having amnesia?”

Bucky opens his mouth to protest – Steve doesn’t actually know about his mind wipes – but Steve answers for him.

“Everyone makes food for you,” Steve says. “Like they think I can’t figure out how to use a toaster. It’s kind of funny, actually.”

Bucky shoots Steve a betrayed look, since he literally spent an _hour_ making Steve pancakes this morning, but Sam just laughs.

“I was going to say, not knowing the twist in Star Wars, but that works, too,” Sam says. He holds out his hand for Steve to shake. “Sam Wilson, the Falcon, sometime-Avenger, resident genius. I’m your best friend, also. In the whole wide world. I lap you every Sunday when we go jogging.”

“I thought _Bucky_ was my best friend,” Steve says, half-joking. Bucky goes still.

“Dang, you already got to work on him,” Sam laughs.

“No, Bucky’s just about the only one who hasn’t tried to play a practical joke on me, yet,” Steve says, his eyes dancing when he looks over at Bucky. “Tony tried to tell me I was dating Natasha, and Clint’s lies keep getting more and more ridiculous.”

“Yeah, your friends are weird,” Sam laughs. “You wanna get out of here? You’ve been cooped up for a week. I don’t think hiding is the key to getting your memories back.”

Steve glances around the apartment, like he’s afraid JARVIS is going to tattle on him.

“Am I _allowed?”_ he asks.

“Who cares?” Sam laughs. “Come on, Barnes, let’s break him out.”

*

When the call to assemble comes in the next day, they have their first real argument.

“You’re not going, Steve,” Bucky snaps as he pulls on his black armor. “It’s too dangerous.”

“You know I can still fight,” Steve protests. “Come on, I’m not going to sit up in this Tower, _useless_ , just because I’ve lost a few memories.” He crosses his arms petulantly. Bucky has to bite his tongue, because Steve sounds _just like_ Bucky had when he’d first come to stay with the Avengers.

“We’ll manage fine without you,” Bucky argues. “It’s just Doctor Doom.”

“Will you _really_?” Steve asks. “What if someone gets hurt because they’re used to more team members?”

“They’ve got the Hulk,” Bucky says. “The Avengers have fought off an _alien invasion_ with only six members, and now they have Falcon and War Machine – it’ll be fine.”

“What about you?” Steve says. “Will _you_ be fine?”

Bucky pauses to look Steve in the eye. He looks genuinely concerned, not just frustrated. Actually, he looks just like he always did when told he couldn't do something in case he got hurt.

It’s ridiculous – Steve doesn’t remember Bucky, he barely knows him – he has no reason to worry about Bucky.

“I may not look like it, but I’m the best assassin of the past century,” Bucky says with a wry smile. “I can handle myself out there.”

Steve sighs, but he finally relents. “Fine,” he says, not sounding happy about it. “But do me one favor.”

Bucky’s already heading to the door to _finally_ join the fight. He stops and turns.

“What is it?” he asks.

“Take the shield,” Steve says seriously, holding it up. Bucky’s mouth goes dry.

“It’s – that’s – you have no idea what that shield means, Steve,” he says, staring at Steve like he’s grown another head.

“No, I don’t,” Steve shrugs, looking down at the red, white, and blue. He looks back up, meeting Bucky’s eyes. “But I know that _you_ mean a hell of a lot more to me than this ever will.”

When Steve tosses him the shield, Bucky doesn’t know what to do but catch it and leave.

*

Bucky looks down at the lights of the city underneath his dangling legs. He rests his forehead on one of the bars of the railing and grips them tightly.

“You’ll bend one of them if you keep that up,” Steve says from the helicopter pad behind Bucky.

Bucky jumps, cursing himself for letting someone sneak up on him like that. He’s been sitting on the balcony outside Stark Tower for a half hour, ignoring the chill in the wind and gripping tightly to the railings.

“Sorry,” Steve says. “I shouldn’t have come up behind you. Natasha threatened to take out my kneecaps if I ever did it to her again.” Bucky snorts.

“It’s fine,” he shrugs. “What are you doing out here?”

“Looking for you,” Steve answers. Bucky still isn’t used to how open and honest Steve is. He supposes it comes from being a blank slate. “What are you up to? Do you like the view?”

“Actually, I hate heights,” Bucky admits, still holding tightly to the railing. “I’m trying to acclimatize to them. Chances are I’ll have to fight on top of a roof one of these days.”

Steve nods and sits beside Bucky, taking off his shoes before he dips his feet underneath the railing. Bucky’s stomach swoops to see Steve so close to the edge.

“It’s weird to think that we all have such normal fears,” Steve says thoughtfully. “You all fight monsters on a daily basis – but you don’t like heights, Clint doesn’t like spiders—“

“Clint is afraid of spiders?” Bucky asks thoughtfully, filing the fact away for later use.

“Yeah,” Steve laughs. “I heard him screaming over one the other day. Natasha killed it for him.”

Bucky laughs. “You’re not afraid of anything, though,” he points out with a smile. “You never were.”

“I don’t know,” Steve shrugs. “There are things I’m afraid of. Not heights or spiders.”

“I used to be afraid of the rackety old heater in my family’s apartment building,” Bucky admits, grinning. “But you weren’t. You marched right down the stairs, pulling me along with you, and walked right up to it.”

“Did it eat you?” Steve teases.

“We barely made it out alive,” Bucky winks. “You were a scrawny little thing, younger than me, and you still weren’t afraid of nothing.”

“Did I use to do this for you? Tell you stories, when you had amnesia?” Steve asks curiously.

Bucky swallows, the smile fading from his face. “Who told you about that?” he says tonelessly.

“You did,” Steve answers apologetically. “When Bruce was checking me for injuries. I overheard you saying something about someone else on the team getting amnesia. When you told me you were brainwashed for seventy years, I put two and two together.”

“Of course you did,” Bucky sighs, resting his forehead on the railing.

“I’m sorry,” Steve says. “Was it a secret?”

“Not really,” Bucky shrugs with a frown. “I just…didn’t want you to know. I don’t know. It was stupid.”

“That’s not stupid,” Steve protests. “It’s vulnerable, being like this,” he admits, eyes drifting downwards to the lights moving below them in the darkened city. “You wouldn’t want me to think that I couldn’t trust your mind when I couldn’t even trust my own.”

“I suppose,” Bucky says. “I’m sorry. I should have told you. I know how it feels, I guess.”

“I just got lucky,” Steve says. “I have you to help me through this. I wish he – I could’ve been with you when you needed me.”

“You were,” Bucky says, turning to Steve and holding his gaze. “Even when I didn’t think I needed you. You’ve always been there for me, Steve.”

“Good,” Steve says leaning forwards, “I’m glad you’re here for me, now.” Before Bucky knows what Steve is doing, Steve leans forward and kisses him.

He doesn’t think, just closes his eyes and leans into the kiss. His heart’s pounding a mile a minute, like it’s about ready to jump out of his chest. Steve rests a hand on the back of Bucky’s neck to pull him closer.

“Wait,” Bucky says suddenly, pulling away. Steve leans back.

“Are you alright?” Steve asks, sounding concerned. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” Bucky sighs. He runs a hand through his long hair, pulling it out of his eyes. “No, that was my mistake. I – we can’t do this, Steve. Not now.”

“And why not?” Steve asks with a stubborn frown.

“There are a lot of reasons,” Bucky sighs. “You don’t…feel that way about me, Steve.”

“How would _you_ know?” Steve snaps. He backtracks immediately, shaking his head. “But…you do?”

Bucky looks away, out over the city. It’s enough of an answer for Steve.

“Tell me why we can’t, then,” Steve says in a challenging tone.

“It’s…complicated,” Bucky says, chewing on his lip. His eyes fix on a blinking light in the distance, the one fixed to the top of the Baxter Building. “You wouldn’t remember why,” he continues. “Steve and I – we aren’t like that. He’s Captain America. He’s never given me a second glance. And even if he did, it couldn’t happen.”

“That’s bullshit,” Steve says plainly. “Can’t you see it? He’s in love with you, Bucky. I can’t see a single thing keeping us from being together, if it’s what the both of us want.”

“I don’t believe that,” Bucky sighs. “I just – I’m sorry. I can’t take advantage of you like that.”

 “You aren’t taking advantage of me,” Steve says. “I _want_ this, Bucky.”

“Yeah,” Bucky sighs. He swings his feet out from under the railing and gets to his feet. “Tell me that when you get your memories back.”

*

He intends to apologize to Steve the next morning, but he never gets his chance. Bucky is awoken to JARVIS telling him that his presence is requested immediately in the common room. He dresses quickly, wondering what’s happening. It doesn’t sound like an emergency.

“What’s going on?” Bucky asks as he steps out of the elevator. Natasha steps aside, revealing a young man and woman standing in the middle of the group: Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch.

“Nice of you to join us, Barnes,” Tony says. “Looks like Cap is getting his memories back. Our resident Dumbledore has got it handled.”

“Please,” Wanda smiles, “I’d much rather be compared to Hermione, Stark. But, now that you’re here, Bucky, we can begin.”

_And you couldn’t do that without me?_ Bucky thinks, but he keeps it to himself. He stands outside the curious circle the others have formed around Steve, trying to avoid his eyes.

“Steve wanted to see you before she zapped him back,” Natasha says. Bucky’s eyes must go wide, because she grabs him by the shoulder and propels him forwards, towards Steve.

“Hey,” Bucky says, deflating. He’d rather not do this with an audience.

“Didn’t want to do this without you,” Steve says, trying to meet Bucky’s eye. “It’s stupid, I know.”

“I don’t think it is,” Bucky starts. He stops when he hears Clint making gagging noises from behind him.

“Are you ready?” Wanda asks. “I’m pretty sure I can reverse Loki’s curse – but I’m not sure what the side effects will be. If something goes wrong, the changes might be…permanent,” she says apologetically.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Steve sighs.

“Alright,” Wanda smiles.

Bucky watches with bated breath as Wanda clears the others back and reaches out to Steve, setting a hand on his forehead. She closes her eyes and begins to chant something underneath her breath. The tails of Wanda’s red coat rise in an invisible wind and her hands begin to glow with pink magic.

A moment later she steps back, releasing Steve from her grip.

“Steve? How do you feel?” Wanda asks carefully.

“I – I think –“ Steve starts, lifting a hand to his head. He stops and glares over at Clint. “You told me Warhead candies were _sweet?_ Really, Barton?” Clint bursts into snickers until Natasha thwaps him upside the head.

Tony steps forward to sling an arm around Steve’s shoulders and propose a party, ordering pizza and beers up to their floor via JARVIS. Thor starts a round of applause for Wanda, who blushes and bows for them with a laugh.

Bucky takes the distraction as a chance to slip away from the group.

*

Of course, Steve manages to find him a half hour later. Bucky’s standing at the balcony this time, not sitting. Steve leans on the railing and looks out at the sunset. The sky is orange and yellow, dotted with pink clouds across the horizon. The blazing sun has burned into Bucky’s vision when he glances over at Steve.

“I guess I owe you an apology,” Steve says. Bucky starts.

“Really?” he asks. “I thought it was the other way around.”

Steve rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “I wasn’t entirely fair with you, the other night. I shouldn’t have pushed you like that.”

“You kidding me?” Bucky says in disbelief. “ _I’m_ the one who was acting like an asshole. The one thing I hated when I lost my memories was how I felt like I was stuck in limbo. I wasn’t Bucky, yet, but everyone wanted me to be.” He kicks at the floor of the balcony, scuffing up his boot on the cement. “I’m sorry for not treating you like a whole person. I should know better.”

“You treated me like a person,” Steve sighs. “More than anyone else did, except Sam. Everyone else kept looking at me like they thought I was going to break. You – you were the only one I felt like I could trust.”

Bucky scoffs, but Steve shakes his head.

“It’s true,” he says. “Buck – I’ve snuck more than a few second glances at you over the years. Maybe it’s my fault for not letting you know what you meant to me sooner.”

“Really,” Bucky laughs, a hollow sound.

“Yes, really,” Steve sighs. “I meant everything that I said last night, even though the timing was wrong. It’s stupid that it took an outsider’s view for me to see that I had to say it.”

“Well,” Bucky drawls, sucking in a deep breath to gather up all his courage, “you are pretty stupid, sometimes. Guess I forgive you.”

“Oh yeah?” Steve laughs. He knocks his elbow into Bucky’s.

“Yeah,” Bucky nods. “Stupidest kid I ever met.” He shoves Steve right back.

With a laugh, Steve grabs Bucky’s arm and swings him around, pinning him to the railing between his arms. Bucky raises his eyebrows.

“Can we try this again?” Steve asks, hope obvious in his eyes.

“As long as you do it quick,” Bucky breathes, leaning in and circling his arms around Steve. “Before one of us loses our memories again.”

With both of them smiling, Bucky goes in for the kiss.

 

_The End_


End file.
